Sounders prevail in their first CONCACAF match

Sounders star Fredy Montero was more of a super sub on Wednesday night, as the Sounders gritted out 1-0 victory in the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League over Isidro Metapan from El Salvador.

In the 60th minute, Montero came on to replace Nate Jaqua and made an immediate impact.

After play was restarted with a free kick at midfield for the Sounders following the substitution, Osvaldo Alonso played the ball to Montero, who then scored on a strike from 35 yards out. The shot was directed right at Misael Alfaro; however, he misplayed it and was only able to slow the ball down before it trickled into the back of the net.

Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said he wasn’t able to see Montero’s shot on goal.

“Actually, I subbed him on and I just turned, so I didn’t see the shot,” Schmid said. “I saw the tail end of it. I saw the goalkeeper scrambling for it and spinning off his hands and going in. So that’s why I didn’t celebrate as much as I normally would on a goal. That’s what happens; you take your eyes off of him for a second and he scores a goal.”

Alonso, who received the assist on Montero’s goal, was one of three Sounders to be issued a yellow card within the first 20 minutes of the match. The others were Peter Vagenas and James Riley.

Beyond the five cautions, the first-half was uneventful for both teams, as it finished scoreless and without many close shots.

Although he didn’t have many chances, Rodolfo Suarez impressed in the first half for the visitors while displaying creativity and physical play.

On the other end, Miguel Montano showed flashed of greatness on the left flank and created a few very good opportunities on goal for the Sounders in the first 45 minutes; however he was often caught out of position.

Schmid said Montano has some things to learn, but has very good potential at the same time.

“Miguel is a young player and he is a young player who is very talented,” Schmid said. “But sometimes performances go up and down. He has had better performances than he has had today and it was a case of trying to get [Steve] Zakuani on the field and hoping he could stay little bit wider and stretch them out a little bit more. He’ll make his impact here down the road.”

With Zakuani in, the Sounders began to spread the field and use the wingers more. By doing so, Seattle created even more opportunities in the offensive two-thirds of the field.

Late in the game, Isidro Metapan began to waste time when possible and appeared pleased to leave the States with a negative-one goal differential.

With the home game of the two game series now complete, Seattle will travel to El Salvador on Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. to complete the preliminary round versus Isidro Metapan. The team with the higher goal differential will advance to the group stage.

The next regular Sounders game will be Saturday when the team travels to San Jose to take on the Earthquakes (6-5-4) at 7 p.m.

On the injury front, Vagenas had to be subbed in the 14th minute after going down with a right quad strain in the ninth minute. The injury happened while he was taking a corner. He fell immediately after corner, but was able to walk off the field. Alonso came on for him.